Marvel; Columbia PicturesNow that The Avengers has brought in more than $207 mil at the box office, does that mean there's no room for The Amazing Spider-Man or The Dark Knight Rises? It sounds like an awful lot of superhero movie for a single summer.
—Gatley, via the inbox
No, it is not an awful lot of superhero movie. Mark my words: America will put its collective butt in a theater seat, and it will watch Spider-Man, and it will have a good time and spend lots of money to make Emma Stone even richer than she already is. And I have proof:
That proof is called the Year 2011.
Last year we were treated to—not a misprint—seven superhero films, that is, if you count Paul Bettany's Priest and Dylan Dog, both of which were born in foreign comic books.
We also took in Green Hornet; X-Men: First Class; Thor; Green Lantern and Captain America: The First Avenger.
Now, not all of those movies thrived at the box office last year. Seth Rogen's Hornet had a meh opening weekend. And Green Lantern, which starred Ryan Reynolds, also didn't bring in a devastating torrent of cash. Even X-Men: First Class did just OK, bringing in $56 million domestically.
But at least two films did more than fine: Thor, for one, opened with a respectable $66 million domestic opening, part of a $242 million worldwide bow. And Captain America: The First Avenger, which earned more than $68 million in its opening weekend, also unseated Harry Potter as the box office king in that same period.
So what does all this mean? It means fret not for Christian Bale or Andrew Garfield, is what it means.
The Avengers success "only stokes the flames for the other movies," says Borys Kit of the Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog. "Talk to the 7-year-old boy who walked out re-enacting the movie; the 27-year old either quoting lines or saying the movie was overhyped (but who will still see Spider-Man and Batman); and the 47-year-old who brought his kids and is going, ‘I remember the comics from when I was a kid'."
Indeed: Don't be shocked if both Spider-Man and Dark Knight make back their investment budgets and then some.
"Avengers, Spider-Man and Dark Knight are perfectly spread out for each to be a monumental success," says Jeff Bock of box office analysis firm Exhibitor Relations. "I would not be surprised in the least if these were the top three flicks of the summer season."
And yet we still can't get a decent Wonder Woman on the big screen!